Prison officers are striking for 48 hours across NSW due to alleged unsafe working conditions.
Officers at Sydney’s Long Bay went on strike this morning, with around 900 staff following at around midday, the Public Service Association estimated.
BREAKING: Officers at Long Bay Jail to walk off the job today – more to come @7NewsSydney
— Peter Fegan (@PeterFegan9) April 12, 2018
Other prisons such as Goulburn, Berrima, Silverwater and Dillwynia have held stop-work meetings and strikes, citing job cuts as the reason behind their action. The job cuts are part of a government-proposed budget cut that would see around 300 jobs lost across NSW prisons, with 91 from Long Bay alone.
“We are disappointed by today’s action as the parties have to date participated in cooperative discussions,” a Corrective Services NSW spokeswoman said.
“We want to reinforce that we are in the middle of consultations with staff and unions and no decisions on job changes had been made.We have been putting arrangements in place to maintain security, and provide meals and attend to the medical needs of inmates, as this situation unfolds.”
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Stewart Little, general secretary of the Public Service Association, made a statement explaining the reasoning for the strikes, which are in response to the government’s proposal of “benchmarking” – reducing staff in some areas of prison operations, while adding them to others.
“NSW’s prison system is designed for 11,000, but the population is fast reaching 14,000. The prison guard to inmate ratio at one guard for every 14 inmates, but proposed budget cuts will see this rise to one in 16. At the same time, we are already seeing assaults on prison officers rising by 20 per cent, while inmate violence has trebled in the last three years. Despite our prisons reaching breaking point and the productivity commission confirming NSW is the worst performing state, the government has decided to start sacking workers, putting everyone at risk. Prison officers have one of the toughest jobs imaginable. How any government could propose, in good conscience, to make their lives tougher and more dangerous is beyond me.”
And prison officer/chair of the PSA’s corrections branch, Nicole Jess, supported his statement.
“Today’s strike is a boil over of frustration. Prison officers are genuinely concerned about their safety at work and the government continues to ignore their warnings. They deserve to leave for work in the morning knowing they’ll come home at night, and so do their families. With assaults against prison officers up 20 per cent, the government should care more.”
AAP is reporting that a skeleton crew will be on board in the affected prisons, to keep them operating during the strike. Prisoners due to face court in Sydney’s Downing Centre have been kept in their cells, putting court proceedings on hold.
Shadow Corrections Minister Guy Zangari has stressed that the strike could create chaos in NSW prisons.
“We could have a disaster on our hands if inmates are in lockdown for the full 48 hour strike,” he said in a statement today.
